The burial at Thebes
Subtitle: a version of Sophocles' Antigone
By: Seamus Heaney
Contributors: Sophocles
Edition: 1st American ed.
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 79
ISBN-13: 9780374117214
Subjects: Antigone (Greek mythology); Drama; Tragedies; Literatura grega clássica; Teatro (literatura)
Description: Sophocles' play stands as a timely exploration of the conflict between those who affirm the individual's human rights and those who must protect the state's security. During the War of the Seven Against Thebes, Antigone learns that her brothers have killed each other, having been forced onto opposing sides. When Creon, king of Thebes, grants burial of one but not the "treacherous" other, Antigone defies his order, believing it her duty to bury all of her close kin. Enraged, Creon condemns her to death, and his soldiers wall her up in a tomb. In this new translation, Seamus Heaney exposes the darkness and the humanity in Sophocles' masterpiece, and inks it with his own modern and masterly touch.